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to priests, to monks, to bishops and to worshippers, because we trample upon the laws of God and Savior as though they were worthless. And if somewhere one appears who is small among men, but great to God as being known by Him, not condescending to our passions, he is immediately driven out as an evildoer and persecuted by us from our midst and is cast out of the synagogue, just as of old our Christ was by the high priests and terrible Jews of that time, as He Himself said and always says this with the bright voice of His majesty; but there is a God, who will exalt him and receive him both in this life and in the one to come and will glorify him with all the saints whom this man longed for. But what does the Word say also to us, those of the monastics who seem to be zealous? Form what is within with piety and what is without will by all means be clean for me, for the one will be for your benefit and for those who see your good works, but the other is desirable to me, the creator of all, and to my new and divine orders. But if you adorn the outer statue (420) only with the restraint of its manners and seem to those who see you to be friends through the outward discipline of labors, but you take no account at all of my beloved image for its purification and adornment with zeal and tears and labors, through which you are clearly seen by me and by all to be rational and divine men, you are truly like to me damp tombs, just as the Pharisees once were, as I said when reproving their foolishness. Outwardly shining, inwardly full of dampness, filled with the dead bones of wicked thoughts, words, passions, concepts and deceitful meditation of a corrupt heart. For who of you has sought out these things,

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θύταις, μοναχοῖς, ἐπισκόπους καί λάτραις, ὅτι τούς νόμους τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Σωτῆρος καταπατοῦμεν ὡς μηδενός ἀξίους. Καί εἴ που φανῇ μικρός εἷς ἐν ἀνθρώποις, Θεῷ δέ μέγας ὡς αὐτοῦ ἐγνωσμένος, μή τοῖς πάθεσιν ἡμῶν συγκαταβαίνων, εὐθύς ἀπελαύνεται ὡς εἷς κακούργων καί διώκεται παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐκ τοῦ μέσου καί ἀποσυνάγωγος γίνεται, καθά πάλαι ὁ Χριστός ἡμῶν παρά τῶν τηνικαῦτα ἀρχιερέων καί δεινῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὡς αὐτός ἔφη καί ἀεί τοῦτο λέγει τῇ λαμπρᾷ φωνῇ τῶν τούτου μεγαλείων˙ ἀλλ᾿ ἔστι Θεός, ὅς αὐτόν ἀνυψώσει καί προσλάβεται ὡς ἐν τῷ βίῳ, οὕτως ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι καί συνδοξάσει πᾶσιν ἁγίοις, οὕς ἐπόθησεν οὗτος. Ἀλλά τί φησι καί πρός ἡμᾶς ὁ Λόγος, τῶν μοναζόντων οἱ δοκοῦντες σπουδαῖοι; Τό ἐντός μορφώσατε τῇ εὐσεβείᾳ καί τό ἐκτός μοι καθαρόν πάντως ἔσται, τό μέν γάρ ὑμῶν εἰς ὠφέλειαν ἔσται κκαί τῶν ὁρώντων τά καλά ὑμῶν ἔργα, τό δέ ποθεινόν ἐμοί τῷ κτίστῃ πάντων καί ταῖς νεοραῖς τάξεσί μου καί θείαις. Εἰ δέ τόν ἐκτός κοσμεῖτε ἀνδριάντα (420) τῇ καταστολῇ τῶν ἠθῶν τούτου μόνῃ καί τοῖς ὁρῶσιν ὑμᾶς δοκεῖτε φίλοι διά τῆς ἐκτός γυμνασίας τῶν πόνων, φίλης ἐμῆς δέ τῆς εἰκόνος οὐδ᾿ ὅλως ποιεῖσθε λόγον εἰς κάθαρσιν καί κόσμον αὐτῆς ἐν σπουδῇ καί δάκρυσι καί πόνοις, δι᾿ ἧς ἐμοί τε καί πᾶσι καθορᾶσθε ἄνθρωποι τρανῶς λογικοί τε καί θεῖοι, ἐοίκατέ μι ὄντως μυδῶσι τάφοις, καθάπερ ποτέ Φαρισαῖοι, ὡς ἔφην εἰπών ἐλέγχων τήν ἀφροσύνην τούτων. Ἔξωθεν λαμπροί, μυδῶντες πλήρεις ἔσω, νεκροῖς ὀστέοις μεμεστωμένοι φαύλων καρδίας σαπρᾶς ἐνθυμήσεως, λόγων, παθῶν, ἐννοιῶν καί μελέτης δολίας. Τίς γάρ ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐξεζήτησε ταῦτα,